Aid for basic education in developing countries declined from $5.5 billion in 2006 to $4.3 billion in 2007, or by nearly 22 percent, according to the Global Monitoring Report 2009, published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.
The decline in world aid for education means that countries will fall short of goals that the international community agreed to reach at a meeting in Dakar, Senegal, in 2000.
Then, the international community set a target of ensuring that all children would have access to a primary education by 2015. The UNESCO report estimates that the goal will be missed by about 30 children.
Aid from the United States for basic education rose during 2007, but few other countries stepped in to fill the aid gap. The Netherlands and the United Kingdom, which boosted their education aid sharply in 2006, decreased their donations slightly last year
Read more Report Roundups.
